Love Songs [Remaster] - John, Elton (CD 2001)

The remarkable span of Elton John is here among these fine cuts from Daniel to Circle of Life. And it really is remarkable. When you think of all the nobody-to-megastar stories that have led to graveyards from Texas to Paris, you nod to Elton John and to Bob Dylan and to Joni Mitchell and to Bonnie Raitt and all others who have managed to stay the course.

So the advice of this review will be short. If you are thinking of choosing a single Elton John work for your collection, stop here and go no farther. This one will suffice.

I am trying to remember what I thought of Elton John when he emerged on the scene. I was doing a morning man stint at an independent AM station in Pittsfield, MA. "Daniel" was the hit of the moment. Each DJ had the option of choosing all the songs from a limited but more than adequate library. "Daniel" got played alot.

At the same time nobody was as turned on by Elton as by, say Joni Mitchell or Steely Dan or Seals and Crofts or a number of other lesser known groups that have taken their place in the outer constellations of pop-rock memory.

I think it is Elton's longevity -- and his cumulative capacity to put stellar music and grooves to the lyrics of Bernie Taupin (mainly) -- that accounts for his close-to-preeminent place among single pop performers in the post-Sinatra era.

I say it this way to suggest that there was a time when Sinatra led the oack and typified a sort of stand-up singer of songs. John and other singers who came along in the 70s and beyond are obviously post-that era. Indeed they may represent, perhaps, the death of a certain sort of popular song and a certain sort of male singer, and his replacement by an essentially rock-tinged male performance art.

Compare John and Sinatra: Coat and tie versus costume. Crooning voice versus mega-emoting. A Johnny Mercer era transiting to an Andrew Lloyd Webber era.

I think I am trying to talk about a cultural sea change and that it may take another fifty years or so for anyone to determine whether it was dismal or a cause for gratitude. Perhaps it was neither or both.

I don't feel Elton has changed all that much, though his life has changed. Thematic, bold, melodic presentations of quite centered lyrics that work -- done by a performance artist of consummate skill and a measure of true and admirable coourage.

We mortals cannot imagine what it would be like to get onto a stage before a stadium of expectant fans -- and to live up to their expectations.

The song on this CD that I like best is Sacrifice. Not sure why. It just does it for me. The whole presentation. The snap to it. The incomprehensibility and universality of the lyric.

I am sure you will have your favorites, perhaps more than one.

There cannot be a better addition to a collection that seeks to represent the best in the last several decades of popular music. Or a better gift to anyone who is now even only a borderline candidate for the great gathering around the world that appreciates this brave man who made it from nothing to everything and survived.